Travel Log #4 London to Paris

Saturday, June 20, 2009
NOTE: Be sure to click on these photos to enlarge... to get the true impact of color and scale...

From St Pancras International Terminal, after changing some currency to Euros, we took the Eurostar train via the chunnel to Paris.
We could not ask for a more comfortable ride and before long we were at the Garre du Nord, Paris. A short while later our driver dropped us off at the Arioso Hotel on Rue D'Argenson. The hotel is a traditional 19'th century establishment and as such is very small with five floors and only three rooms per floor. We were at the top and the view was terrific. Light cream colored limestone buildings with tarnished copper rooftops with that distinctive faint patina could be seen all around.
After we settled in, we took a stroll down to the Galeries Lafayette on Blvd Haussmann. This is a huge shopping destination situated in some very historic and architecturally beautiful buildings. It is just about the only place on earth where the perfume counters are located under an amazingly ornate stained glass dome with massive opera size wings on all sides. Breathtaking.
When we got back, it was very late and we ordered room service and were pleasantly surprised by the delicious toasted breads, camemberts and variety of cold cuts. It all went very well with a couple of Carlsbergs.

Travel Log #3 Windsor, Stonehenge & Oxford

Friday, June 19, 2009 After a quick breakfast in the hotel, we jumped on the tube and retraced our route to pick up our Evans tour. Windsor Castle was spectacular.
I never saw such an accumulation of wealth all in one place.
We could have spent a month in there and not seen all of it.






Then it was off to Stonehenge.
It happens to be the day before the Summer Solstice and all sorts of witches, druids and new age types were clogging the roads leading there.
When we finally got there, it was very windy.
The people around me spoke in hushed tones as if this was a holy place. They spoke in different languages but I could tell they all were in awe of the place.
One could not help but feel humbled by such a very profound experience as to be standing in the presence of such an ancient and mysterious landmark.











Oxford with its many institutions of higher learning was our final stop.
The fascinatingly historical colleges date as far back as the 13'th century.
It was such a visually interesting place with its extremely old schools connected by small cobblestone alleys and lanes.
Our guide made it a point of adding the connection of this place to current popular film with inspired architecture for the recent Harry Potter films.

Travel log #2 London

Thursday, June 18, 2009 We had to be at the Victoria Coach station to join the Evan Evans city tour at 8:45AM so we had to hustle to get there. We took the London Underground, aka "tube", at Oxford Circus and were pleasantly surprised by how efficient, comfortable and clean the system was. The other riders (full train) were most likely on their way to work and looked pretty much bored. Most were reading about the latest Parliamentarian involved in the housing allowance scandals. No one spoke. A few stops and short walk later and we were there.

We saw and did a lot. Royal Albert Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral with it’s rich history and interned historical figures, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, a walk around the various buildings at the Tower of London (lot’s of jewels and what’s with the ravens?), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, an afternoon cruise down the Thames to see the Houses of Parliament.








We had lunch (fish & chips, what else?) at the Silver Cross, a pub/restaurant which our capable tiger-skin-blouse wearing red haired guide suggested.




She was great, the food, not so much.





We learned a lot and had a blast.